The invention relates to a toy building set as defined in the introductory portion of claim 1.
Such toy building sets are generally known under names such as LEGO Technic, said toy building sets including traditional toy building elements in the form of box-shaped building blocks provided with coupling studs on the upper side and complementary coupling means on the lower side. Some of these traditional toy building sets may moreover be provided with through holes, so that they may also be interconnected laterally by means of special bushings. LEGO Technic, e.g., additionally includes shafts, gear wheels, etc., and the toy building set thus comprises may special elements, thereby enabling larger and more complex structures to be built than is possible with traditional box-shaped toy building elements.
Further, a toy building element has been developed particularly for LEGO Technic, consisting of a relatively rigid and smooth plastics pipe of small diameter and of uniform cross-section over its entire length. The plastics pipe may be coupled internally in other toy building elements adapted for the purpose, and by bending the plastics pipe between its connections with other toy building elements it is possible to build structures which incorporate rounded shapes.
Also other tubular, flexible toy building elements for toy building sets are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,538, DE C2 3 401 318 and NO B 117 109 disclose flexible toy building elements which each consist of a tubular body which, at the ends, is provided with special coupling means for connection with other toy building elements. The flexible toy building elements are moreover constructed such that they may be caused to assume arbitrary configurations without being held at both ends, as their bellows-shaped structure allows the links to assume fixed positions relatively to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 3 605 323 discloses another flexible toy building element which does not comprise a tubular body, but a coil spring having special coupling means at the ends. This flexible toy building element will not be able to assume arbitrary configurations without being held at both ends, as the spring effect will always try to straighten the toy building element.
It is common to all the last-mentioned toy building elements that they are provided with special coupling means at the ends, which partly make their construction complicated and partly limit the possibilities of play and building, since they will always assume the same length and can only be coupled together with quite specific coupling means on the other toy building elements which are included in the toy building set concerned.
In contrast to this, the previously mentioned flexible pipe for LEGO Technic is formed with end faces which appear as clean cuts perpendicular to its longitudinal direction, thereby allowing the pipe to be easily shortened, as desired and needed. This toy building element, however, also just gives limited possibilities of play and building, as it can only be coupled together with other toy building elements at the ends of the pipe. The free portion will therefore always assume its most natural shape, e.g. as a curve or a straight portion.
The object of the present invention is to provide a toy building set comprising a tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element, which toy building set is to present more possibilities of play and building than the known toy building sets having flexible toy building elements.
This is achieved by arranging the toy building set stated in the opening paragraph as defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1.
Arranging the toy building set in this manner provides a toy building set which contains a tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element whose outer shape may be determined by the shafts and bushings of the toy building set. Thus, with the disclosed toy building set it is possible selectively to determine the outer shape of the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element e.g. by allowing shafts and/or bushings to extend a certain distance into the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element. If desired, it is of course also possible exclusively to connect the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element with the shafts and bushings of the toy building set at its ends, so that it merely assumes its most natural position in the same manner as is known from the pipe of LEGO Technic.
Finally, according to the invention, the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element may be shortened to any length, as its ends appear as clean cuts perpendicular to its longitudinal direction.
Preferably, the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element has a circular cross-section whose inner diameter essentially corresponds to the smallest circle that may be circumscribed by the shafts and bushings of the toy building set. If the inner diameter of the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element is formed slightly smaller than corresponds to the smallest circle that may be circumscribed by the shafts and bushings of the toy building set, a relatively tight coupling may be achieved between the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element and the shafts and bushings of the toy building set, so that the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element may be held securely.
If the coupling between the shafts and the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element is suitably tight, it is even possible to use the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element as a flexible shaft capable of transferring rotational movements.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element is corrugated in its entire length. This results in a toy building element which is very flexible, and which may be compressed as well as be stretched in its axial direction. This adds considerably to the possibilities of play and building.
If the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element is corrugated in its entire length, the bushings may advantageously have a circular cross-section and be provided, at each of its outer ends, with a radially protruding bead which, upon connection with the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element, snaps into the corrugations of the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element. The holding force against axial displacement is hereby increased considerably.
If the shafts consist of cross shafts, they may preferably be circumscribed by a circle which corresponds to the inner circular cross-section of the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element. In a particular embodiment, the parts are arranged such that a tight coupling may be achieved between the cross shafts and the tubular, elongated, flexible toy building element.
The invention also relates to a toy building element for a toy building set comprising shafts and bushings.